Papyrology which is the study of all writings on papyrus should
be
distinguished from inscriptions on stones or wooden tablets. The plant
that
bears the name "papyrus" grows in abundance in the scattered
swamps of the
Nile Delta. The ancient Egyptians made of it a suitable material for
writing
and supplied most of the surrounding areas with papyri. The Greeks who
are
lovers of philosophy and literature recorded most of their entries on
papyri
particularly in the classical age.

It is amazing that after the christianization of Greece and Egypt that
many
scrolls were discovered in Egyptians tombs and they were deposited in jars
or
wooden boxes. Greek texts were found side by side with Coptic codices in
the
early decades of our era. The word "Codices" is the plural of
"codex" which is
a wooden tablet or an ancient manuscript of the Scriptures or the
old
classics.

It should be borne in mind that with the Hellenization of Alexandria,
Greek
manuscripts flooded Egypt. It is no accident that poems by Sappho, the
first
book of the Homeric "Iliad" and the satirical drama
"Ichneutae" of Sophocles
were among the scrolls discovered in the last century. To have had
Greek
education and to speak Greek fluently were the two prominent assets
of
scholarship in Alexandria, the fountain-source of intellectual life
throughout
the period that followed Alexander's conquest.

The purely philosophical influence of Alexandrine scholarship is
particularly
noticeable in the works of St. Clement of Alexandria, the prolific Origen
who
was the pupil of Ammonius Saccas, the early exponent of Neoplatonic
philosophy
and mysticism and St. Pantaenus who is well known for his contribution
to
Alexandrine Christianity.

It is also worth noting that the Greek alphabet is basically used in
the
Coptic language with the addition of 7 characters derived from demotic
which
was the common language of the ancient Egyptians. This addition was
essential
for the inclusion of sounds not found in the Greek tongue. A.F. Shore tells
us
[1] that:

"in Heidelberg a "cartonnage" fragment from Akhmim, dated
to the third
century A.D., contains a few Greek words with their
demotic
equivalents written in Greek letters. In the demotic London and
Leiden
magical text, written in the third century A.D., there are over
600
glosses in Greek letters. A number of magical texts have survived
from
the first three centuries A.D. (and are) characterized by the use
of
Greek letters and a large number of demotic signs (known as
Old
Coptic). "

What is even more important, the same author emphasizes, is that the Coptic
version of the Holy Bible, together with the early Greek Biblical
papyri,
offers one of the most fruitful sources of Biblical text in manuscript
prior
to the persecution of Diocletian (303 A.D.) and the recurrent attempts
to
burn the Scriptures [1].

One should mention also in this respect the important discovery
at
Sheneset-Chenoboskion in Upper Egypt of thirteen papyrus codices. The
codices
are all written in the Coptic language and in the dialect that is prevalent
in
that area known as "Sahidic". Most of the codices have striking
affinities to
Greek counterparts. In the main they contain explications and elaborations
on
the Gospels, epistles, prayers and doctrinal arguments. The bulk of
these
writings deals at large with the sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ before
and
after Crucifixion and the Resurrection, His teachings and His advice to
the
disciples.

Eminent papyrologists like Ernst von Dobschutz and Hermann Freiherr von
Soden
(1852-1914) have indicated that the old text of the New Testament belongs
to
the second century and is written on papyrus fragments:

"The very earliest that is known is a tiny piece of papyrus leaf with a
small
portion of the Gospel according to John. This was discovered in the John
Reglands Library in Manchester, England, among papyri acquired in Egypt
in
1920 by B.P. Grenfell... According to its style of handwriting the papyrus
is
dated in the first half of the second century A.D., probably about
125
A.D. (that's only few decades after the death of St. John, the evangelist
and
disciple). As far as it goes the text agrees with Codex Vaticanus,
Codex
Sinaiticus, and Codex Ephraemi Syri Rescriptus."

The same author goes on saying that the second oldest manuscript
"consists of
three small fragments of a codex leaf purchased in Luxor in 1901 and
preserved
in the Library of Magdalen College at Oxford." Its date is believed to be
the
latter part of the second century and what remains of it contains
certain
parts of the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Only a little later after the beginning of the third century do we come
across
a notable codex composed of eighty-six leaves most of which are in
possession
of the University of Michigan and they contain the letters of St. Paul to
the
Romans, Hebrews, Corinthians I & II, Ephesians, Galatians,
Philippians,
Colossians and Thessalonians I. This codex is known as the Chester
Beatty
Papyrus of Paul's letters. It is named after Beatty -- an American living
in
England.

It should be noted, however, that the Codex Vaticanus to which a
reference
above was given, contains in the main the Greek Holy Bible.
Papyrologists
after studying the style of this codex have concluded that it is most
probable
that it was written in the fourth century and that it was written
nowhere
other than in Alexandria.

The Codex Sinaiticus actually derives its name from the Convent of
Saint
Catherine at Mount Sinai, where it was discovered by Dr.
Constantine
Tischendorf (1815-1874) in 1859. It is supposed to be the greatest
manuscript
discovery ever made at any time. The Codex includes a copy of the
Old
Testament in Greek and the entire New Testament. It remained in
Leningrad
until it was purchased by the British Museum in 1933 and it was then
deposited
in the Manuscript Department of its library.

This invaluable Sinaitic codex has two hundred and forty-two leaves
which
compose the Old Testament and one hundred and forty-eight leaves composing
the
New Testament. Most probably it was written by more than one scribe as
the
textual study of H.J.M. Milne and T.C. Skeat amply testifies. The
conclusions
worked out by these two scholars were published in a volume bearing the
title
"Scribes and Correctors of Codex Sinaiticus", (London, 1938).

The Codex Coislinianus with its Alexandrine text was in possession of
the
Laura Convent on Mount Athos and is dated in the sixth century. The
surviving
leaves of this codex are only forty-one and are divided among
various
libraries in Leningrad, Kiev and Mount Athos.

Worthy of our readers' observation, however, is the fact that the
original
Greek version of the New Testament was translated into Syriac, Coptic
and
Latin mainly to help the natives of different lands understand the
Biblical
text in their own language [3]. But it is not surprising to find
translations
varying from one translator to another according to the variations
of
competence, degree of proficiency in the Greek language and, to a
lesser
extent, the variation of the original Greek manuscripts.

This will throw some light on the Coptic translations of the New
testament
which appeared in parts in the Sahidic dialect in the early decades of
the
third century. Eminent Coptologists like Budge, Henri Hyvernat, Chester
Beatty
and Horner have unanimously agreed that the Shidic version of the Holy
Bible
is somewhat older than the Bohairic version. The manuscripts which
have
survived whether in fragmentary or complete form are dated between the
middle
of the fourth and the late sixth centuries [4].

It is of special interest to note that the first printed version of the
Greek
New Testament appeared rather late in 1514. Previously a fragment of the
Greek
Holy Bible was printed at Milan in 1480 and another fragment of the Gospel
of
St. John was printed in Greek at Venice. At any rate the publication of
the
Greek New Testament offered to many scholars the opportunity to compare
the
original text with Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and Armenian versions with
the
subsequent result of attempting in the following centuries to be as close
as
possible to the original Greek text.